My Mr-Barton-Maths podcast
Some thoughts on maths, puzzles, parenting and cricket.
16 September 2019
Craig Barton is famous for his book How I wish I'd taught maths, and also for his podcast in which he interviews people in the maths community. I had the pleasure of being his interviewee in this month's episode.
If you haven't got time to listen to the whole thing (and I realise that not everyone has two hours-worth of ironing to do), I've picked out the timings of the main topics we discussed.
00:04:10 Craig's intro to the episode
00:08:00 My favourite number; favourite topic in maths; What If I weren't doing maths?
00:15:00 'How did I get to be doing what I do now?'
00:15:10 My first Sunday Times Puzzle
00:17:30 How the world cricket rankings came about
00:20:40 Teaching civil servants how to think creatively
00:21:50 My first book, What Is A Googly?
00:23:40 Why Do Buses Come In Threes?
00:26:55 Duckworth Lewis
00:28:20 'Favourite' failures and what I learned
00:34:10 Maths, Cricket and why people find them 'boring', 'pointless' and 'inaccessible'
00:40:40 Is Maths getting cooler?
00:47:30 What's the secret of engaging a class in maths?
00:56:40 The importance of humour
1:08:00 How do I go about writing books?
01:12:45 Why I love 'The Number Devil'
01:14:30 How parents can engage children in maths
01:16:45 Hand puppets
01:21:30 Favourite examples from my books
01:21:50 Why Do Buses Come In Threes?
01:25:40 How Many Socks Make A Pair?
01:27:20 Maths On TheBack of an Envelope
01:30:20 Why we shouldn't be too dependent on calculators
01:42:30 Being able to double and halve in your head (imperial and metric)
01:50:20 Everyday Estimation - The Legoland queue time story
01:53:20 Fermi questions, How Many Likes?
01:58:25 Maths Inspiration Shows
02:02:30 Puzzles
02:05:10 'Where is the Father?' puzzle
02:06:45 What I've learned
02:07:00 Is it better to know How or Why first?
02:10:30 The importance of feedback
02:12:50 Three blogs/podcasts that I would recommend
02:18:45 End / Craig's reflections